Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Group rallies in support of cottages
Original Article: http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1094988.html
By J.R. WELSH - jrwelsh@sunherald.com
WAVELAND — A small group of residents rallied Monday in support of a pending lawsuit and their push to keep living in Mississippi cottages when a state program expires.
About 20 cottage residents gathered at the Waveland ball field on Central Avenue, carrying homemade signs and making short speeches. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed Friday on the issue is expected to make its way to court this week.
“We need this permanent housing,” Andrew Canter, a lawyer at the Mississippi Center for Justice, told those at the rally. “We’re not going to let it be taken back.”
Canter and another lawyer from the justice center filed suit on behalf of eight Waveland residents still living in the small hurricane-relief cottages. They sued Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo and the Board of Aldermen, saying the city acted improperly when it decided to allow cottages to stay only in areas zoned for trailers when a housing program by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency expires at the end of March.
In response, Longo said the lawsuit was “unbelievable.” He said the city had already taken steps to change its position, renegotiate a memorandum of understanding with MEMA, and allow cottages to remain in areas zoned residential.
Canter said he would be filing an additional brief in the case, which is scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. Friday in Chancery Court in Gulfport.
The Hancock County Board of Supervisors decided last week to allow the cottages to stay in residential neighborhoods, citing a state law that considers the structures to be modular homes, not mobile homes. Thus far the Bay St. Louis City Council has continued to restrict cottages to trailer parks.
Not everyone watching Monday’s rally of about 20 people favored the cottages. Waveland resident John Peterson, 73, sat in his car across the street holding an anti-cottage sign. He said the small, shotgun-style Mississippi cottages are ruining his investment in his home, which he rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.
“I rebuilt a $179,000 home and I’ve got Katrina cottages near me,” Peterson said. “What does that do to my property values?”
But one after another, cottage residents and their supporters made short speeches invoking their rights to a home. MEMA has offered to sell the cottages at low prices to residents who can meet a list of criteria.
By J.R. WELSH - jrwelsh@sunherald.com
WAVELAND — A small group of residents rallied Monday in support of a pending lawsuit and their push to keep living in Mississippi cottages when a state program expires.
About 20 cottage residents gathered at the Waveland ball field on Central Avenue, carrying homemade signs and making short speeches. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed Friday on the issue is expected to make its way to court this week.
“We need this permanent housing,” Andrew Canter, a lawyer at the Mississippi Center for Justice, told those at the rally. “We’re not going to let it be taken back.”
Canter and another lawyer from the justice center filed suit on behalf of eight Waveland residents still living in the small hurricane-relief cottages. They sued Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo and the Board of Aldermen, saying the city acted improperly when it decided to allow cottages to stay only in areas zoned for trailers when a housing program by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency expires at the end of March.
In response, Longo said the lawsuit was “unbelievable.” He said the city had already taken steps to change its position, renegotiate a memorandum of understanding with MEMA, and allow cottages to remain in areas zoned residential.
Canter said he would be filing an additional brief in the case, which is scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. Friday in Chancery Court in Gulfport.
The Hancock County Board of Supervisors decided last week to allow the cottages to stay in residential neighborhoods, citing a state law that considers the structures to be modular homes, not mobile homes. Thus far the Bay St. Louis City Council has continued to restrict cottages to trailer parks.
Not everyone watching Monday’s rally of about 20 people favored the cottages. Waveland resident John Peterson, 73, sat in his car across the street holding an anti-cottage sign. He said the small, shotgun-style Mississippi cottages are ruining his investment in his home, which he rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.
“I rebuilt a $179,000 home and I’ve got Katrina cottages near me,” Peterson said. “What does that do to my property values?”
But one after another, cottage residents and their supporters made short speeches invoking their rights to a home. MEMA has offered to sell the cottages at low prices to residents who can meet a list of criteria.
Labels: Biloxi, CHANGER, Cheri Honkala, FEMA, Housing, Katrina, MEMA, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, PPEHRC, Rev. Bruce Wright, Waveland
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